The new HBO Max medical drama “The Pitt” has generated critical acclaim from TV critics and medical professionals for its realism and accuracy. Each week’s episode depicts one hour in the shift of a beleaguered ER staff at a fictional hospital in Pittsburgh. Holding it all together is veteran actor Noah Wylie (of “ER” fame) as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, a Jewish medical doctor.
How well does it portray an actual urban trauma center? The Jewish Light went to several area Jewish doctors to find out. Dr. Marc Mendelsohn, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, has seen just one episode, which he reports, is “in many ways the most realistic of the medical shows.”
Dr. Jeffrey Davis, a member of the ER staff at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, said he hasn’t seen the show, but “I’ve heard the same feedback from several colleagues – that it’s a very realistic look at how the emergency room works.”
Dr. Shari Cohen, an internal medicine doctor with a practice in Creve Coeur, is a big fan of “The Pitt.” Cohen, a member of Congregation B’nai Amoona, got her medical training at Jewish Hospital and spent a year and a half working in the ER of a hospital in St. Peters, Mo. She said this depiction of medical treatment in a trauma center is extremely realistic.
“The thing about the ER is the variety,” Cohen said. “You don’t know what’s coming next. That part of not knowing what’s coming in through the door is pretty realistic in ‘The Pitt.’ Every problem is different, every patient is different. You don’t know these people, so you’re basically getting a new set of problems with each person who enters.”
She said the crowded waiting room is also accurate.
“It’s certainly common for people to have a long wait and that’s gotten worse recently because there’s so much you know so many people who are utilizing the emergency room so waiting for hours is a real problem,” she said.
“The other thing that’s interesting is the trauma of dealing with COVID,” she said. “That’s an underlying theme and I think that’s real that the ERs and the ICUs that dealt with COVID were pretty traumatized.”
Some medical professionals have reported difficulty watching “The Pitt” because it stresses them out after working a full shift at a hospital ER. Cohen said she just enjoys watching the show and appreciates how the creative team behind it portrayed medical procedures as they really occur.
“I guess I’m pretty good at separating myself too from this you know but I’ve been practicing for 35 years so I know how to separate myself from a medical drama.”
